++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ HOWARD HOUCHEN ENDORSED BY OCPAC
++ DANGEROUS FINAL WEEK BECAUSE OF WEAK REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ IS JARI ASKINS MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN MARY FALLIN?
++ THE OKLAHOMAN’S CONFUSION OVER TAXES AND FEES
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UP-DATE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday May 26th will be held at Italiano’s
restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. This week’s program will
feature the two Republican candidates for the State Treasurer’s
office. Former State Senator Owen Laughlin (R-Woodward) was the first
to announce then Ken Miller (R-Edmond) followed. Laughlin was term
limited out 2 years ago and Miller still has 6 years left, but has
decided to run for a state wide office. We will certainly be looking
for an understanding of the job of the Treasurer and how those duties
differ from those of lawmakers.
++ HOWARD HOUCHEN ENDORSED BY OCPAC
As I predicted in last week’s e-mail, I thought it would be a
difficult decision to endorse a candidate for the 2nd Congressional
district. First let me say, all of the candidates were well spoken and
for the most part had good answers to our questions. Any one of the 4
candidates would make a better Congressman than Dan Boren, if for no
other reason than not to vote for or empower Nancy Pelosi to continue
as the Speaker of the House.
All four candidates receives several votes, but the two receiving the
largest number of votes were Howard Houchen and then Charles Thompson.
The result of the run-off was that all of the votes that had gone for
Dan Arnett and Daniel Edmonds then went to Howard Houchen and Mr.
Thompson kept his same number of votes.
I have talked with several of our members that chose Howard and the
following are some of the reasons he won the endorsement. First, his
answers to the questions were very good. Second, he showed passion in
his speech and answers, even a little anger as to what is going on in
Washington. Not anger in the sense of losing control, but in the sinse
of a willingness to go to Washington and mix it up rather than be a go
along to get along type of Congressman. Third, Mr. Thompson has a
strong military background, but Mr. Houchen has worked in a variety of
countries for several years and is very familiar with customs and
cultures having traveled to over 50 nations in his lifetime.
Geopolitical expertise is perhaps more important for a Congressman to
know than military expertise, though both are important and vital.
I believe the final issue was that Mr. Houchen, having raied over
$60,000, has been able to amass more than 3 times the funds of any of
the other 3 candidates. You can have the best message and be the most
pleasant person in the world, but if you don’t have the funds or the
grass-roots support to get your message out, you just have a very hard
time in becoming a viable candidate.
Congressman Boren already has raised over a million dollars. While the
Republican challenger doesn’t have to match that money, dollar for
dollar, the candidate will need a sufficient amount of dollars to
become viable. Any Republican proving themselves to be viable through
the primaries, will see many dollars flowing into their campaign for
the general elections. I do believe there will be a primary run-off
after July 27th as each of these candidates will have a particular
base of support.
++ DANGEROUS FINAL WEEK BECAUSE OF WEAK REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
The final week of the legislative session looks to be a nightmare for
limited government Oklahomans, folks who want efficiency in government
and for government to live within its proper bounds. After looking
over several pages of agency cuts and then the horrific amount of new
revenues (fee and tax increases) it is apparent the Democrats have
outmaneuvered Republican leadership in the legislature. I would
suggest the primary weak link is House Speaker Chris Benge (R-Tulsa).
I shall try to paint a speculative picture of what went on behind
closed doors as Governor Henry and Republican leaders in the House and
Senate worked to craft a budget. I believe the Governor and his
Democrat buddies in the legislature wanted to cut as little as
possible, especially among their favored friends in education and
health care. They wanted to spend as much of the newly printed federal
stimulus dollars and rainy day funds as possible this year to moderate
the cuts. Putting off more severe cuts that will likely be needed next
year will make them look good and then put the pressure on a
Republican Governor and Republican controlled legislature to either
make larger cuts or raise even more new taxes.
Of course another way to avoid more cuts this year was to raise taxes
and then of course call them fees. To get the Republicans to go along
with their plan, the Democrat legislators threatened to lock down on
any emergency clause vote which would cause the laws to be delayed and
thus make the budget not work out. In addition, there was the threat
to uphold a veto by the Governor.
Now, the following is how I imagine the response went to such threats
in the Republican House caucus. Probably a few of the conservative
House Republicans suggested to call their hand. It was probably a call
to stand fast on conservative principles of no more tax increases and
set spending cuts based on priorities of efficiency and proper
functions of government. If the Democrats want to lock down and force
us into an expensive special session, let the Republicans make the
case to the people of Oklahoma that it is the Democrats that are
responsible for wasting money and refusing to be responsible in a
tough economic environment.
At that time I can only imagine that the bastion courage, the man of
consensus building rather than leadership, Speaker Chris Benge, spoke
softly and said, now boys and girls, we can’t take any chances in an
election year. We don’t want to rock the boat, it would be better to
go along and get along, to be bi-partisan in the eyes of the Oklahoma
voters. Remember, we want to win the Governor’s seat and increase our
numbers in the legislature. Also, we should respect our RINO
(Republicans In Name Only) members like Representative Cox (R-Grove)
who wants to add a 1% tax on a health care claims paid by insurance
companies so we can leverage those new tax dollars to get more newly
printed federal government green stamps (dollars) to redistribute to
people in Oklahoma. Remember the future, we need to win win win and
keep our power. Be cautious don’t take any chances. Don’t go out and
sell the ideas of low taxes and liberty like we talk about in our
campaign literature and is a part of our Republican platform. Just go
along to get along, don‘t make ripples, just be kind and friendly like
me.
Folks the real people to watch in this process besides your own
personal Representative and Senator is Representative Chris Steele (R-
Shawnee) and Senator Brian Bingman (R-Sapulpa).
These are the men most likely to be the next leaders in the
legislature. Maybe it is time to start asking our own State
Representatives and State Senators who they intend to vote for when it
comes to choosing leadership. Maybe the selection of leadership will
become as important to the voters as the other issues they wrestle
with at the legislature?
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
* TUESDAY EVENING - MOORE AREA - The central Oklahoma chapter of
Americans For Fair Taxation will hold a meeting at the Moore Public
Library (225 South Howard) this Tuesday evening, starting at 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Elza Jones will be the main speaker. For more information log on
to www.fairtax.org or call (405) 392-4324 or 517-7245.
* TUESDAY EVENING - OKC AREA - Don Powers, attorney at law, will
begin another 6 week presentation of information about our U.S.
Constitution at the H&H gun range on the South side of I-40 and just
West of I-44. The class starts at 6:00 and runs until 7:30 p.m. for
the next 6 Tuesdays. I was able to attend this past Friday evening at
Fairview Baptist and it was most interesting. Rather than going
Article by Article, Don was relating a tremendous vision through
quotes and stories about the heart and intentions of our founders as
they crafted that great document. Many of our founder’s warnings are
upon us today. Don makes it clear that the responsibility for good
government in our nation, rests squarely upon the shoulders of those
who call themselves Christians. I urge folks to make every effort to
attend these classes if at all possible.
++ IS JARI ASKINS MORE CONSERVATIVE THAN MARY FALLIN?
The short answer to that question is NO. However, according to a
recent article in the Oklahoman titled: “3 candidates call immigration
a federal issue”, Askins conveys a more conservative understanding of
the immigration issue when it comes to a “States Rights” perspective.
When asked about the Arizona law and possible efforts by local
lawmakers to promote Arizona plus legislation, Edmondson basically
said we should focus on ways to improve our economy. Don’t get
involved and run the risk of having to spend money in a lawsuit.
It was reported that U.S. Representative Mary Fallin said: Oklahoma
legislators are acting out of frustration over the federal
government’s not dealing with immigration reform. She said immigration
reform is a federal issue. “For years we have tried (wah wah wah bla
bla bla, emphasis mine) to get the U.S. Congress to address more
border security, more funding for border security guards, the use of
more technology,” she said. “We have to do a better job of controlling
our borders, of putting in the resources for border security and
immigration enforcement.”
Now folks those are really safe words for a Republican Congressperson
to say, as we have been trying to deal with this in Washington for
years now. We really need to do a better job in Washington. These poor
little lawmakers back here in Oklahoma are just acting out of
frustration. I guess Mary just wants us to wait on Washington a little
longer. Don’t do anything in the state to take our future into our own
hands, just HOPE and DEPEND on CHANGE in Washington to take care of
the problem.
While Askins remarks were that Oklahoma’s existing immigration laws
are sufficient, she went on to say that “Arizona’s legislation is just
another example of the frustration that Washington has not stepped
forward with a plan.” She also said, “Oklahoma’s House Bill 1804 was
also a reaction to the lack of action from federal officials. (now pay
close attention to these conservative words) This ought to be a wake-
up call to Congress. I believe states will continue to enact their own
legislation until Congress acts on its own.”
Jari Askins gets it and it is so true that the more the federal
government refuses to correctly solve this horrific problem, the more
states are going to exercise their sovereignty as a state to solve
these problems
Randy Brogdon was out of town but contacted later, he said he wanted
to wait on a comment until he had an opportunity to read the Arizona
law. He latter issued a statement after reading the law (what a novel
idea) saying several points of the Arizona law are already a part of
HB 1804 of which he supported. He also said he certainly supports
Arizona’s efforts.
Folks, there has been a slow invasion going on for several years now.
An invasion that is abusing American citizens who are unprotected from
people dumping on and destroying their property as well as making life
a nightmare for them. American citizens are being squeezed out of
their homes, neighborhoods and states by an ever increasing numbers of
invaders who speak another language and have different cultural mores
and values. People flooding into parts of these United States, not
wanting to become Americans, not wanting to assimilate, but rather
bring the corruption of their culture with them. Not only do the
states have a right to deal with these problems, it is a necessity
that they do so. It appears that Senator Brogdon and Jari Askins are
the ones that best understand that. It also appears that Drew
Edmondson and Mary Fallin are lacking in this important issue.
++ THE OKLAHOMAN’S CONFUSION OVER TAXES AND FEES
This past Thursday the Oklahoman ran an editorial called
“Possibilities: Could provider fee survive a challenge?” The editorial
couched what I believe is the Oklahoman’s desire to raise revenues by
adding what they suggest is a fee of 1% on claims paid by insurance
companies. They couched the editorial in terms, that if South Carolina
could finally raise the tax on tobacco, maybe the Oklahoma legislature
could raise a fee that would surely be called a tax by its opponents.
Sound confusing, hopefully I can shed some light on the issue.
In 1991 the citizens of Oklahoma passed State Question 640 which did
the following: It said the legislature could not raise taxes without a
75% super majority of support in both chambers of the legislature or
the proposal would have to go to a vote of the people. The measure
only put restrictions upon taxes, it did not prohibit the ability of
the legislature to raise fees. What 640 did not do was DEFINE the
difference between a tax and a fee.
As a result, anytime the legislature has wanted more revenues, they
call revenue increases “fees” and thus get around the need for a 75%
super majority or a vote of the people. Though Senator Brogdon and
Representative Wesselhoft have tried to introduce legislation to
define the difference, they have not met with success. Not until last
year when Oklahoma’s taxpayer watchdog, Jerry Fent, took a case before
the State Supreme Court. He won a case that did a fairly good job of
defining the difference.
If we ever want to have good government it will be very important to
know the difference, especially if we are ever successful in
restructuring our tax codes. It is such an important issue that it is
one of the 10 questions on our legislative candidate survey and I
might add, one that very few candidates know the difference.
Please pay close attention. A FEE is revenue raised from a particular
activity or upon a certain item (such as a car tag) and all the money
raised must be spent ONLY on the regulation or support of that
activity. Example, all monies paid to use our turnpikes are fees as
all those monies are used ONLY to pay off bonded indebtedness, repair
the roads and pay for their operations.
The wildlife department is similar, as all monies spent for licenses
and specialty stamps or tags are used to fund the wildlife department
and thus those revenues are fees. However, if some of those monies
were to be used for roads or education, those revenues would no longer
be deemed a fee but rather a tax.
Taxes are revenues raised from a particular activity or upon a certain
item. However, the money can be put into the general fund to be used
for things other than the support of the activity from which the
revenue was derived.
Thus, if the revenues derived from when we purchase a gallon of gas,
our auto tags, our registration fees or driver’s licenses were to all
be used to build roads, bridges and pay for the highway patrol and the
overhead at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, then all those
revenues would be considered as fees. However, when they are diverted
to build the weather school at OU or the bio-terror lab at OSU and the
support of local school districts, then they are in actuality a tax.
The reason Representative Doug Cox’s (R-Grove) proposal is a tax and
not a fee is that it forces the people who pay for health insurance to
be charged higher premiums because when the insurance company pays out
more it will raise rates to compensate for the increase. The
legislation will have all insurance companies to pay 1% of any claim
to state government, not to be used to support health care for all,
but to support the health care of people who don’t pay for insurance.
Thus it is not a fee, but rather a tax.
Folks, this was a demand by the Democrats who trusted one of their
buddies (Representative Doug Cox) to carry the legislation as a
Republican to help its chances for passage. Of course Cox wasn’t alone
in his efforts as a large number of the usual suspects helped.
Lawmakers such as Lee Denny (R-Cushing) Don Armes (R-Lawton), Eddie
Fields (R-Wynona), Gary Banz (R-Midwest City), Kris Steele (Christian
Socialist Progressive Republican from Shawnee) Shane Jett (R-Tecumseh)
Ann Cody (R-Lawton) and a few others voted along with Cox and the
Democrats for passage. However, the good news is that it didn’t get
close to the 75 super majority, so if the Senate doesn’t kill the
measure, then look for another lawsuit by Mr. Fent, a truly great
Oklahoman and great American.
++ OCPAC MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
We are now nearing 250 dues paying members for this year and we are
just nearing the end of May. Our old record of 217 members has been
blown out of the water, and all I can say is thanks to the many folks
who have decided to support our efforts. If you have not joined as
yet, please follow the instructions below.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
MARY FALLIN - SHOWING WHAT KIND OF GOVERNOR SHE MIGHT BE
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++ COMMENTS ON BANQUET, MEMBERSHIP DRIVE & REV PETERSON
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ ACTION ITEMS
++ MARY FALLIN - SHOWING WHAT KIND OF GOVERNOR SHE MIGHT BE
++ TIDBITS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon of Wednesday May 5th will be held at Italiano’s
restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this week will be
State Corporation Commissioner, Dana Murphy. Commissioner Murphy was
narrowly elected to this office two years ago in a special election
and has proven not to be afraid to take a position differing from the
other two commissioners. I am looking forward to hearing her
perspective on the position since being elected and I also have 2 or 3
questions to ask about important decisions, both past and future. Dues
paying members as of April 21st and who are present will be given a
ballot to vote to endorse Ms. Murphy or to make no endorsement.
Last week our members voted 4 to 1 to endorse Mr. John Doak for State
Insurance Commissioner. I am always concerned about any candidate
launching for a statewide race only 2 or 3 months before filing date
unless they already have a very high name identification. To be
honest, this process always draws a few crazies who may just want
nothing more than to see their name in the newspapers a couple of
times and on a ballot. However, I was very pleased with Mr. Doak. He
was obviously a high caliber individual, fairly well known in the
industry and the Tulsa area. I would suggest he also has a
conservative ideology fairly well developed. I certainly believe he
would be an improvement over the incumbent Kim Holland who was a
Democrat delegate for President Obama during the elections of 2008.
Mr. Doak now joins these other candidates endorsed by OCPAC members,
Randy Brogdon for Governor, John Wright for Lt. Governor, Mark
Costello for Labor Commissioner, Nathan Dahm for 1st Congressional
District, R.J. Harris for 4th District and Kevin Calvey for 5th
Congressional District. Congratulations to these candidates, they have
earned their endorsements.
++ COMMENTS ON BANQUET, MEMBERSHIP DRIVE & REV. PETERSON
First, a big thanks to the 190 or so who attended. I have received
many positive comments about various aspects of the banquet. All of
our award recipients were present except Senator Brogdon and Mark
Shannon. Senator Brogdon was in Guymon as the commencement speaker for
the local home school graduation ceremony as well as attending a
variety of other campaign events in the panhandle. Unfortunately, Mark
was back in the hospital giving the nurses a hard time. However, he
sent his frequent caller, “Don the Baptist” to receive his award and
to tell us that Mark would rather be with us than back in the
hospital.
A huge thanks to Richard Engle, his wife Denise, Stephanie West, Betty
Head, Char Gurlick, Sterling Johnson, Ruth Green, Clark Curry, Sharon
Bieker, Nita Lindberg and any others I may have forgotten who worked
to make this event happen, especially Richard as he put a huge amount
of time into this event and serves as chairman of the planning
committee. Thanks also to Kimray, Bell West America, Clark Curry
Allstate Agency, the Randy Brogdon for Governor Campaign, along with
the campaigns of Kevil Calvey for Congress and Mark Costello for Labor
Commissioner for their advertising in our program. The revenues from
advertising help to underwrite the costs of a banquet, which in turn
helps to keep the cost down for those attending. Many asked me to put
information in the e-mail about our caterer. The food came from
Chippers Grill (no longer a restaurant, just a caterer) with the
following phone number (405) 312-7380.
As part of the event, we had a membership drive where I found some
generous donors to contribute $50 for each new member (up to 46)
during the month of April. The memberships were coming in with numbers
sufficient to go beyond the 46 so we now have another donor to extend
the challenge through the end of May for an additional 20 members.
During April, 52 new members joined bringing our total for the year to
214, just 4 shy of breaking our all time record of 217 members. We
have now exceeded the $33,000 we raised for the 2008 elections and I
believe we are on track to exceed $40,000 for the 2010 election
cycle.
That is a tribute to the staying power and consistency of OCPAC and
the confidence in the principles for which we stand. Also important is
the knowledge that almost every dollar contributed goes to support
conservative candidates, since everyone at OCPAC is a volunteer and
therefore not even a percentage of our dues are consumed for salaries
as is the case with most PACs and the Republican party. I want to
invite more folks to become dues paying members as we need 14 more
people to join by the end of May to take full advantage of our current
matching challenge.
Memberships will continue to trickle in through September, though it
is important to have most of our money in place by the middle of June
as we will start distributing contributions by June 23rd. While our
dues paying members decide which candidates we support, we have a
finance committee who decides the amount for the candidates, so it is
important to have the bulk of our money on hand by the middle of June
for those decisions. No matter where you live in the state, please
consider joining as we support candidates running in districts all
over the state. Getting conservative lawmakers elected in the rural
areas is crucial to making Oklahoma a better state. Instructions on
joining will follow my sign off.
Now for comments about our keynote speaker. I picked up the Reverend
Jesse Lee Peterson and his assistant, James Hake, at the airport about
10:30 Wednesday night and chauffeured them around to 9 different
events until they boarded their plane early Saturday morning. He has a
powerful message to Americans of all stripes and color of skin. He
speaks boldly, bluntly and with a dash of humor thrown in for good
measure. He continues to say our struggles are spiritual, a struggle
between good and evil, sin as described by God through is Word and
righteousness also defined in His Word.
To the black community he challenges them to not be deceived into
thinking you are right with God when you have anger in your heart and
are willing to accept sin, hatred, lies and immorality in church
leaders or those who run for, or hold political office. He decries the
breakdown of the Black family, caused by the socialist agenda of
liberal progressives like Lyndon Johnson and so called civil rights
leaders. Men who hijacked the ideals of being “judged by the content
of a persons character rather than by the color of one’s skin” as
espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The ideals of that statement
were hijacked and today’s civil rights leaders do not want racial
harmony, but they rather foment problems so they can hold themselves
out as necessary leaders to protect black America from the “evil
whitey” who wants to suppress them.
He suggests that many of today’s black pastors were called by their
mama’s and not by God. He says the NAACP is not much different from
the KKK. One wears white garb and the other black. The KKK killed
blacks physically while the NAACP kills the souls of black people by
making them hate and become dependent on socialist government
programs. He says the way to restore America is to restore the divine
order of the family, where Christ is over man, man is over the woman
and the mother is over the children. A Godly family of with a strong
moral father can experience liberty and cannot be controlled or
manipulated by the minions of evil. That kind of a father provides
physical, mental and moral protection for his wife and children and
guards against deception.
I thought his most powerful message was delivered to about 35 patriot
pastors at a noon luncheon on Thursday. The majority of those pastors
are white and he stressed the necessity to love black people by
speaking truth to them. He contends many black people are simply
captives of a lie. Most black preachers, civil rights leaders,
Democrat politicians and the liberal media lie to them to keep them on
the Democrat plantation. To keep them in fear of whitey and allow the
liberals and black leaders to become wealthy and politically
powerful.
He told them they have been forced into the closet of silence because
of the fear of being called a racist. To prove his point on several
occasions he said he has been called every name in the book,
especially the word “nigger”. He says he has been called that word so
many times he has considered changing his name to the Reverend Jesse
Nigger Peterson. At a couple of events, while relating this, he would
cut lose with repeating the word several times in a row and then say
with a laugh, “you white people are afraid of that word aren’t you?”
His purpose was not to encourage white people to start using the word
but to point out how political correctness has turned us into cowards.
He challenged the pastors and people at the banquets to love black
people by telling them truth when God makes an opportunity. In all
reality, the issues of anger, hatred, sin and immorality are just a
important for the lives of white people as they are to black folks. I
first met Jesse 12 years ago, but really had a great time with him for
a few days and will never forget our time together during this trip.
The live in studio interview last Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. on the
mostly black KRMP 1140 AM station was a hoot. Talk show hosts Harold
and Larry along with producer and call screener Launa were responsible
for some of the most fun I have had in studio. Many readers may not
know, I had my own program for about 6 months on a station in Norman
back in 2001. Unfortunately they scheduled two other guests for their
program so Jesse was only on about 45 to 50 minutes. Some of his blunt
statements caused the phone lines to light up with callers and there
just wasn’t enough time to take more than a couple of calls.
Larry and Harold indicated they want to have Jesse on again by phone
sometime in the future. We taped two shows early Thursday morning for
the Watchman on the Wall program with hosts Noah Hutchins and Larry
Spargimino. The show is sponsored by the Southwest Radio Church. The
programs will air on 890 AM at 10:30 on Monday and Tuesday, May 24th
and 25th. Jesse and I were both interviewed on a variety of issues
so you may want to put that on your calendar and check it out.
However, he also tapped a program with the Reverend Vernon Burris, a
black minister who will play the interview next Saturday morning at
9:00 a.m. on KTLV 1220 AM. In case you didn’t get to hear Jesse, these
would be some good opportunities.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
+ MONDAY EVENING - EDMOND - Don’t forget the Dr. J. Rufus Fears
lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Hardeman Auditorium on the campus of
Oklahoma Christian University, 2501 Memorial road. His lecture will be
about the Declaration of Independence and its relevance today. There
is no charge to attend.
+ THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA - Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free
Enterprise will host their monthly meeting on Thursday, May 6th at the
Hardesty Regional Library, 93rd and South Memorial in Tulsa. The
meeting begins at 6:45. I don’t have the agenda, but the meetings are
always informative.
+ FRIDAY NOON - OKC - There will be a STOP SQ 744 RALLY on the
first floor rotunda at 12 noon. This is one of the most DANGEROUS
state questions to ever be voted on in the State of Oklahoma.
Sponsored by the teacher unions, if passed it would constitutionally
mandate the State of Oklahoma to spend tax dollars on education equal
to the regional average.
Three reasons to defeat the measure. 1) Oklahoma has lower wages and
cost of living than any state in the region. To force us to spend
above our ability is foolish, especially since the regional average is
a moving target, nearly always going up. 2) If it were in effect
today, we would be FORCED to raise taxes by over $800 million dollars
which would be very harmful to our economy, or we would have to cut
spending another $800 million dollars on top of the cuts already in
place. That would be devastating to the funding for the proper
functions of government such as roads, public safety and prisons. 3)
Actually the most important reason, spending $800 million more on
education WOULD NOT IMPROVE the quality of education in the government
schools. The ONLY thing it would do is make the teachers more wealthy
(current average salary $44,000 for a contract to work only 180 days
per year) and the union bosses more politically powerful.
++ ACTION ITEMS
* Last week Governor Henry vetoed Representative Wesselhoft’s HB 2569
which would prevent the government from putting Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) chips on our driver’s licenses or personal ID
cards. Please call your state Representative and ask them to support
an override of the governor’s veto. If you don’t know the direct
number for your personal lawmaker, call the Capitol switchboard and
give them the name of your lawmaker (you should know that by now)! The
number is (405) 521-2711.
* Call your personal State Senator to ask that HB 2811 be supported.
This legislation, if passed would allow for a religious exemption to
not have your bio-metric information on your drivers licenses or allow
your social security to be used as part of an international ID system.
If you don’t know your personal Senator’s number, the switchboard is
(405) 524-0126 or toll free is 1 800 865-6490.
Both of these bills are about personal privacy and an effort to
protect us from moving ever closer to becoming a surveillance society
with BIG BROTHER watching our ever movement. The religious exemption
law would require an additional fee when we renew our license and not
cost the state any additional money. Please call on both of these
items on Monday or Tuesday, preferably on Monday
++ MARY FALLIN - SHOWING WHAT KIND OF GOVERNOR SHE MIGHT BE
I finally had an opportunity to hear U.S. Representative Fallin talk
about issues and ask some questions. This past Monday, she spent all
day in Guthrie, starting with a 7:30 breakfast at the hospital of
which I serve on the Board of Trustees. It was a small group and for
the most part, she was there for the purpose of finding out
information about health care at the local level. I asked the
following question: Would you lead in an effort or support legislation
which would require people on Sooner Care to be required to pay a $5
co-pay when they show up at a clinic or hospital? Her answer was that
she kind of liked the idea of people having some participation in
their health care, but that we would probably have to have some kind
of “means testing” for the poor. Excuse me, means testing for $5.00?
That would create a bureaucratic cost greater than the $5 co-pay would
provide.
Of course the real problem with her answer is that she doesn’t have a
clue as to how to roll back the welfare state, reduce the size of
government and help or force people to become more independent. Let me
explain: In November of 1766, just about 10 years before we signed the
Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin made the following statement
in a speech:
“ I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them
easy in poverty but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I
traveled much, I observed in different countries that the more public
provisions were made for the poor, the less they provides for
themselves, and of course became poorer. And on the contrary the less
was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became
richer.”
In other words, if you really want to help poor people, DO NOT make it
easy for them in their poverty, but rather persuade them to work and
become more productive. If you can’t persuade them to do so, then
FORCE them to do so. I frequently hear callers on Dave Ramsey’s show
or even on the other talk shows, callers thanking the host for
persuading them to get off their duff and make something out of their
lives. That is the persuasion method. If they can’t be persuaded, then
we must find ways to force them out of the system. My question to Mary
was not out of the blue.
Earlier in the session State Representative John Wright (R-Broken
Arrow) and currently a Lt. Governor candidate authored HB 2544, the
SoonerCare co-payment act. It would have required any person on Sooner
Care to pay $5 to get health care treatment. This very reasonable
legislation would do several things. First, it would increase personal
responsibility by causing some people to be a little less likely to
use clinics and hospital facilities unless necessary. As an example, a
person who would come to an emergency room for treatment of poison ivy
then decide to leave because they would have to wait on people with
serious problems (has actually happened). Second, the $5 would really
help pay for health care in a system that is looking for any way to
survive, especially with the passage of Obama Care. Getting money from
patients is the best way to do so rather than forcing insurance
companies to raise rates or force taxpayer to subsidize health care
facilities with ever more tax dollars.
During debate on the bill, Representative Scott Inman (D-Del City) did
some pandering and grandstanding when he said it would be horrible to
put such a burden of the poorest of the poor. Excuse me, I knew a
family on Sooner Care because they had 5 children. The dad was
gainfully employed and made more than I did at the time. The family
also had a boat, went to the lake on occasion and had a couple of
horses for the kids. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but don’t
tell me they can’t afford to pay $5 for mom or one of the kids to go
to see a doctor.
To be sure, there are people poorer than the person I mentioned,
mainly because they spend too much of their money on video games, cell
phones, movies, cigarettes, booze, drugs, in casinos or on lottery
tickets under the illusion that they will win the big game sponsored
by the Oklahoma State owned and operated Lottery.
Now, lets say there were a small number of people who are really poor,
because of no fault of their own. If they need to take a child to a
doctor, they should ask a family member, a friend or neighbor for the
$5. If that doesn’t work, then they should ask their church (assuming
they attend) for help with the $5 or perhaps one of the many civic or
charitable organizations. If that doesn’t work, then come to me and I
will put up the $5 assuming some circus barker like Representative
Scott Inman will do the same!
Inman’s debate turned enough Republicans into cowards to vote against
the bill or caused them to slithering out of the chamber to hide until
the vote was over, so that it failed. The vote was 32 Yeas, 56 Nays
and 13 missing in action. Not one single Socialist Democrat voted for
the measure. Following are the Republicans who voted against the
measure and were the reason it failed:
Don Armes (R-Lawton no surprise here), Gary Banz (R-Midwest City) Lisa
Billy (R-Purcell), David Dank (R-OKC his wife who served in the
legislature was a conservative, he is not), Lee Denney (R-Cushing, no
surprise here), Dale DeWitt (R-Braman, again no surprise here), Eddie
Fields (R-Wynona a freshman who is going to run for Senate district
10. OCPAC didn’t support him because he showed not to be a
conservative when he came before us in the 2006 election cycle), Shane
Jett (R-Tecumseh, what can I say, he has won our RINO award once and
been runner-up a couple of times), Charles Key (R-Bethany a rare vote
like this is what has kept Charles’ index score just below the
lifetime average of a 90 to prevent him from receiving an award from
us. On many issues Charles is a great lawmaker, it just shows no one
is perfect), Skye McNiel (R-Bristow, no surprise to me), Lewis Moore
(R-Arcadia), Jason Nelson (R-OKC), Charles Ortega (R-Altus), Pat
Ownbey (R-Ardmore), Earl Sears (R-Bartlesville, again no surprise
here), Chris Steele (R-Shawnee and the next Speaker of the House. This
kind of legislation is the number one weakness for Steele and just one
of many examples of why an accurate description of Steele would be a
“Christian socialist or Republican progressive.”) Randy Terrill (R-
Moore, this will shock some folks, but Randy is all over the place.
Good on some issues but he has become a very inconsistent
conservative. Perhaps his joining the state employees union has
clouded his judgment?), Todd Thomsen (R-Ada, so typical of rural
Republican lawmakers), Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore, don’t ask me why he
voted with the liberal Republicans and not with the conservatives),
and finally Harold Wright (R-Weatherford, a freshman turning out to be
another liberal from the rural areas).
The following are the ones who may have had a good reason to be absent
but most probably “took a hike” to avoid the vote:
Gus Blackwell (R-Goodwell), Mike Christian (R-South OKC), Fred Jordan
(R-Jenks), Ron Peters (R-Tulsa, usually in the mix for a RINO award,
fortunately he is close to being term limited), Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa,
no surprise here), Mike Thompson (R-OKC, one of the 5th District
Congressional candidates) and then of course John Trebilcock (R-Broken
Arrow, a consistent moderate in the House).
Bottom line, many Republicans in the legislature as well as Mary
Fallin may or may not know where they are. However, I believe they
don’t have a clue as to where they need to go or how to get there to
make Oklahoma a better state. Spending must be cut and some people
must be forced to become personally responsible for their well being.
I will have more on Mary Fallin later as I learned a lot about her
this past week.
++ TIDBITS
* I recently received a fund raising letter from Dr. Rod MacIlvaine,
a PHD who recently joined the Veritas Worldview Institute at Oklahoma
Wesleyan University in Bartlesville. We have had the University’s
President speak at OCPAC twice and once at Clouds Over America. If I
had a child ready to attend higher education and send them anywhere I
wanted in the state, this would be the University as I believe it to
be the best among the 3 or 4 good universities in the state. I want to
share a part of the letter as I found it to be very educational:
“What impresses me most about OKWU is the way our professors weave the
four pillars of our school into each class. Whether students are
enrolled in music education or nursing science, or a math lab…the four
pillars always inform our academics.
* The primacy of Jesus Christ
* The priority of the Scriptures
* The pursuit of Wisdom
* And the practice of truth
As I sat in the campus coffee shop recently, it struck me that
Oklahoma Wesleyan epitomizes everything historically noble about
higher education.
For centuries the very term university meant that a diversity of
subjects was brought under the unity of knowledge found in Christ:
hence the term uni-versity.
Of course, most universities fail to live up to this historic vision.
They could be more aptly deemed multi-versities, schools with
curricula cobbled together from various divergent worldviews that
suppress the truth about God (Romans 1:18).
It’s no wonder that many (if not most) graduates of these postmodern
academic institutions leave their schools riddled with doubts and
deeply skeptical over matters of truth and faith.”
Folks those past few paragraphs are profound. No doubt our kids want
to attend the big name universities with all the glitzy sports and
activities, but it is no wonder they often come out spiritual cripples
or distracted from the most important things in life. I stay angered
that my tax dollars have to support the government schools rather than
allowing me to support the universities of my choice. With the few
shekels left over after paying my taxes, I did send a contribution as
I try to support those things in which I have confidence.
* As you may know, Arizona has stepped up its effort to deal with
what is literally a siege of illegal aliens into the state, creating
enormous crime, damage and costs to the citizens of Arizona.
Representatives Randy Terrill, Mike Christian and Senator Sykes along
with perhaps others are going to try and attach legislation to at
least match what Arizona has done or take it a few steps further.
The reaction across the nation by the liberals and the Bush type
progressive Republicans, aided by the main stream liberal media, has
been an all out attack upon the citizens of Arizona and their duly
elected officials. What is not being shown is the rock, and bottle
throwing as well as near riots occurring, all initiated by the
illegals and their supporters.
Folks this is very serious, it just shows what a serious problem we
have created by allowing the massive flow of illegal aliens and how
the leftists will use any kind of lie to intimidate the good people of
Arizona. Boycotts and any other means possible are being called on to
pressure Arizona officials to back off. If they do, Arizona will
probably be lost much like California (however that is to be
defined).
Arizona is a huge vacation destination. If Oklahoma decides not to do
anything to put more pressure on illegals here, my wife and I have
decided to cancel our staycation of traveling Route 66 in Oklahoma and
go instead to Arizona, to the Flagstaff, Grand Canyon and Sedonia area
for vacation. I want to reward their courage and I will contact their
department of tourism to let them know why we are coming to Arizona as
well as the department of tourism in Oklahoma to tell them why we
decided not to vacation in Oklahoma. We should all call our State
Representatives and Senators and urge them to pass additional
legislation to deal with the illegal alien problem here. Arizona needs
for other states to step up to the plate and keep them from being
isolated and the target of every liberal in the nation. If enough
states will get tough of these illegal criminals, it will diffuse the
ability of the liberals to punish a particular state.
* The editorial page in the current issue of the Oklahoma Gazette (I
pronounce it Gay-Zette) has a point and counter point article about
the “I Don’t Care” conference recently held at Trinity Baptist Church
in Yukon. The point comes from a congregant of Robin Myers, arguably
OKC’s leading false prophet. The counterpoint comes from Pastor Paul
Blair of Fairview Baptist Church, a leader in Oklahoma regarding the
culture war and the effort to expose the dangerous ideology and
strategy behind radical Islam. It is excellent and I urge folks to
pick up a copy of the Gazette at a local restaurant or other location
by Wednesday before the next issue is out. If you can’t find one, I
will post it to read at our meeting this Wednesday.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
++ COMMENTS ON BANQUET, MEMBERSHIP DRIVE & REV PETERSON
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
++ ACTION ITEMS
++ MARY FALLIN - SHOWING WHAT KIND OF GOVERNOR SHE MIGHT BE
++ TIDBITS
++ AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Our 12 noon luncheon of Wednesday May 5th will be held at Italiano’s
restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our speaker this week will be
State Corporation Commissioner, Dana Murphy. Commissioner Murphy was
narrowly elected to this office two years ago in a special election
and has proven not to be afraid to take a position differing from the
other two commissioners. I am looking forward to hearing her
perspective on the position since being elected and I also have 2 or 3
questions to ask about important decisions, both past and future. Dues
paying members as of April 21st and who are present will be given a
ballot to vote to endorse Ms. Murphy or to make no endorsement.
Last week our members voted 4 to 1 to endorse Mr. John Doak for State
Insurance Commissioner. I am always concerned about any candidate
launching for a statewide race only 2 or 3 months before filing date
unless they already have a very high name identification. To be
honest, this process always draws a few crazies who may just want
nothing more than to see their name in the newspapers a couple of
times and on a ballot. However, I was very pleased with Mr. Doak. He
was obviously a high caliber individual, fairly well known in the
industry and the Tulsa area. I would suggest he also has a
conservative ideology fairly well developed. I certainly believe he
would be an improvement over the incumbent Kim Holland who was a
Democrat delegate for President Obama during the elections of 2008.
Mr. Doak now joins these other candidates endorsed by OCPAC members,
Randy Brogdon for Governor, John Wright for Lt. Governor, Mark
Costello for Labor Commissioner, Nathan Dahm for 1st Congressional
District, R.J. Harris for 4th District and Kevin Calvey for 5th
Congressional District. Congratulations to these candidates, they have
earned their endorsements.
++ COMMENTS ON BANQUET, MEMBERSHIP DRIVE & REV. PETERSON
First, a big thanks to the 190 or so who attended. I have received
many positive comments about various aspects of the banquet. All of
our award recipients were present except Senator Brogdon and Mark
Shannon. Senator Brogdon was in Guymon as the commencement speaker for
the local home school graduation ceremony as well as attending a
variety of other campaign events in the panhandle. Unfortunately, Mark
was back in the hospital giving the nurses a hard time. However, he
sent his frequent caller, “Don the Baptist” to receive his award and
to tell us that Mark would rather be with us than back in the
hospital.
A huge thanks to Richard Engle, his wife Denise, Stephanie West, Betty
Head, Char Gurlick, Sterling Johnson, Ruth Green, Clark Curry, Sharon
Bieker, Nita Lindberg and any others I may have forgotten who worked
to make this event happen, especially Richard as he put a huge amount
of time into this event and serves as chairman of the planning
committee. Thanks also to Kimray, Bell West America, Clark Curry
Allstate Agency, the Randy Brogdon for Governor Campaign, along with
the campaigns of Kevil Calvey for Congress and Mark Costello for Labor
Commissioner for their advertising in our program. The revenues from
advertising help to underwrite the costs of a banquet, which in turn
helps to keep the cost down for those attending. Many asked me to put
information in the e-mail about our caterer. The food came from
Chippers Grill (no longer a restaurant, just a caterer) with the
following phone number (405) 312-7380.
As part of the event, we had a membership drive where I found some
generous donors to contribute $50 for each new member (up to 46)
during the month of April. The memberships were coming in with numbers
sufficient to go beyond the 46 so we now have another donor to extend
the challenge through the end of May for an additional 20 members.
During April, 52 new members joined bringing our total for the year to
214, just 4 shy of breaking our all time record of 217 members. We
have now exceeded the $33,000 we raised for the 2008 elections and I
believe we are on track to exceed $40,000 for the 2010 election
cycle.
That is a tribute to the staying power and consistency of OCPAC and
the confidence in the principles for which we stand. Also important is
the knowledge that almost every dollar contributed goes to support
conservative candidates, since everyone at OCPAC is a volunteer and
therefore not even a percentage of our dues are consumed for salaries
as is the case with most PACs and the Republican party. I want to
invite more folks to become dues paying members as we need 14 more
people to join by the end of May to take full advantage of our current
matching challenge.
Memberships will continue to trickle in through September, though it
is important to have most of our money in place by the middle of June
as we will start distributing contributions by June 23rd. While our
dues paying members decide which candidates we support, we have a
finance committee who decides the amount for the candidates, so it is
important to have the bulk of our money on hand by the middle of June
for those decisions. No matter where you live in the state, please
consider joining as we support candidates running in districts all
over the state. Getting conservative lawmakers elected in the rural
areas is crucial to making Oklahoma a better state. Instructions on
joining will follow my sign off.
Now for comments about our keynote speaker. I picked up the Reverend
Jesse Lee Peterson and his assistant, James Hake, at the airport about
10:30 Wednesday night and chauffeured them around to 9 different
events until they boarded their plane early Saturday morning. He has a
powerful message to Americans of all stripes and color of skin. He
speaks boldly, bluntly and with a dash of humor thrown in for good
measure. He continues to say our struggles are spiritual, a struggle
between good and evil, sin as described by God through is Word and
righteousness also defined in His Word.
To the black community he challenges them to not be deceived into
thinking you are right with God when you have anger in your heart and
are willing to accept sin, hatred, lies and immorality in church
leaders or those who run for, or hold political office. He decries the
breakdown of the Black family, caused by the socialist agenda of
liberal progressives like Lyndon Johnson and so called civil rights
leaders. Men who hijacked the ideals of being “judged by the content
of a persons character rather than by the color of one’s skin” as
espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The ideals of that statement
were hijacked and today’s civil rights leaders do not want racial
harmony, but they rather foment problems so they can hold themselves
out as necessary leaders to protect black America from the “evil
whitey” who wants to suppress them.
He suggests that many of today’s black pastors were called by their
mama’s and not by God. He says the NAACP is not much different from
the KKK. One wears white garb and the other black. The KKK killed
blacks physically while the NAACP kills the souls of black people by
making them hate and become dependent on socialist government
programs. He says the way to restore America is to restore the divine
order of the family, where Christ is over man, man is over the woman
and the mother is over the children. A Godly family of with a strong
moral father can experience liberty and cannot be controlled or
manipulated by the minions of evil. That kind of a father provides
physical, mental and moral protection for his wife and children and
guards against deception.
I thought his most powerful message was delivered to about 35 patriot
pastors at a noon luncheon on Thursday. The majority of those pastors
are white and he stressed the necessity to love black people by
speaking truth to them. He contends many black people are simply
captives of a lie. Most black preachers, civil rights leaders,
Democrat politicians and the liberal media lie to them to keep them on
the Democrat plantation. To keep them in fear of whitey and allow the
liberals and black leaders to become wealthy and politically
powerful.
He told them they have been forced into the closet of silence because
of the fear of being called a racist. To prove his point on several
occasions he said he has been called every name in the book,
especially the word “nigger”. He says he has been called that word so
many times he has considered changing his name to the Reverend Jesse
Nigger Peterson. At a couple of events, while relating this, he would
cut lose with repeating the word several times in a row and then say
with a laugh, “you white people are afraid of that word aren’t you?”
His purpose was not to encourage white people to start using the word
but to point out how political correctness has turned us into cowards.
He challenged the pastors and people at the banquets to love black
people by telling them truth when God makes an opportunity. In all
reality, the issues of anger, hatred, sin and immorality are just a
important for the lives of white people as they are to black folks. I
first met Jesse 12 years ago, but really had a great time with him for
a few days and will never forget our time together during this trip.
The live in studio interview last Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. on the
mostly black KRMP 1140 AM station was a hoot. Talk show hosts Harold
and Larry along with producer and call screener Launa were responsible
for some of the most fun I have had in studio. Many readers may not
know, I had my own program for about 6 months on a station in Norman
back in 2001. Unfortunately they scheduled two other guests for their
program so Jesse was only on about 45 to 50 minutes. Some of his blunt
statements caused the phone lines to light up with callers and there
just wasn’t enough time to take more than a couple of calls.
Larry and Harold indicated they want to have Jesse on again by phone
sometime in the future. We taped two shows early Thursday morning for
the Watchman on the Wall program with hosts Noah Hutchins and Larry
Spargimino. The show is sponsored by the Southwest Radio Church. The
programs will air on 890 AM at 10:30 on Monday and Tuesday, May 24th
and 25th. Jesse and I were both interviewed on a variety of issues
so you may want to put that on your calendar and check it out.
However, he also tapped a program with the Reverend Vernon Burris, a
black minister who will play the interview next Saturday morning at
9:00 a.m. on KTLV 1220 AM. In case you didn’t get to hear Jesse, these
would be some good opportunities.
++ ANNOUNCEMENTS
+ MONDAY EVENING - EDMOND - Don’t forget the Dr. J. Rufus Fears
lecture at 6:00 p.m. in the Hardeman Auditorium on the campus of
Oklahoma Christian University, 2501 Memorial road. His lecture will be
about the Declaration of Independence and its relevance today. There
is no charge to attend.
+ THURSDAY EVENING - TULSA - Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free
Enterprise will host their monthly meeting on Thursday, May 6th at the
Hardesty Regional Library, 93rd and South Memorial in Tulsa. The
meeting begins at 6:45. I don’t have the agenda, but the meetings are
always informative.
+ FRIDAY NOON - OKC - There will be a STOP SQ 744 RALLY on the
first floor rotunda at 12 noon. This is one of the most DANGEROUS
state questions to ever be voted on in the State of Oklahoma.
Sponsored by the teacher unions, if passed it would constitutionally
mandate the State of Oklahoma to spend tax dollars on education equal
to the regional average.
Three reasons to defeat the measure. 1) Oklahoma has lower wages and
cost of living than any state in the region. To force us to spend
above our ability is foolish, especially since the regional average is
a moving target, nearly always going up. 2) If it were in effect
today, we would be FORCED to raise taxes by over $800 million dollars
which would be very harmful to our economy, or we would have to cut
spending another $800 million dollars on top of the cuts already in
place. That would be devastating to the funding for the proper
functions of government such as roads, public safety and prisons. 3)
Actually the most important reason, spending $800 million more on
education WOULD NOT IMPROVE the quality of education in the government
schools. The ONLY thing it would do is make the teachers more wealthy
(current average salary $44,000 for a contract to work only 180 days
per year) and the union bosses more politically powerful.
++ ACTION ITEMS
* Last week Governor Henry vetoed Representative Wesselhoft’s HB 2569
which would prevent the government from putting Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) chips on our driver’s licenses or personal ID
cards. Please call your state Representative and ask them to support
an override of the governor’s veto. If you don’t know the direct
number for your personal lawmaker, call the Capitol switchboard and
give them the name of your lawmaker (you should know that by now)! The
number is (405) 521-2711.
* Call your personal State Senator to ask that HB 2811 be supported.
This legislation, if passed would allow for a religious exemption to
not have your bio-metric information on your drivers licenses or allow
your social security to be used as part of an international ID system.
If you don’t know your personal Senator’s number, the switchboard is
(405) 524-0126 or toll free is 1 800 865-6490.
Both of these bills are about personal privacy and an effort to
protect us from moving ever closer to becoming a surveillance society
with BIG BROTHER watching our ever movement. The religious exemption
law would require an additional fee when we renew our license and not
cost the state any additional money. Please call on both of these
items on Monday or Tuesday, preferably on Monday
++ MARY FALLIN - SHOWING WHAT KIND OF GOVERNOR SHE MIGHT BE
I finally had an opportunity to hear U.S. Representative Fallin talk
about issues and ask some questions. This past Monday, she spent all
day in Guthrie, starting with a 7:30 breakfast at the hospital of
which I serve on the Board of Trustees. It was a small group and for
the most part, she was there for the purpose of finding out
information about health care at the local level. I asked the
following question: Would you lead in an effort or support legislation
which would require people on Sooner Care to be required to pay a $5
co-pay when they show up at a clinic or hospital? Her answer was that
she kind of liked the idea of people having some participation in
their health care, but that we would probably have to have some kind
of “means testing” for the poor. Excuse me, means testing for $5.00?
That would create a bureaucratic cost greater than the $5 co-pay would
provide.
Of course the real problem with her answer is that she doesn’t have a
clue as to how to roll back the welfare state, reduce the size of
government and help or force people to become more independent. Let me
explain: In November of 1766, just about 10 years before we signed the
Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin made the following statement
in a speech:
“ I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them
easy in poverty but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I
traveled much, I observed in different countries that the more public
provisions were made for the poor, the less they provides for
themselves, and of course became poorer. And on the contrary the less
was done for them, the more they did for themselves and became
richer.”
In other words, if you really want to help poor people, DO NOT make it
easy for them in their poverty, but rather persuade them to work and
become more productive. If you can’t persuade them to do so, then
FORCE them to do so. I frequently hear callers on Dave Ramsey’s show
or even on the other talk shows, callers thanking the host for
persuading them to get off their duff and make something out of their
lives. That is the persuasion method. If they can’t be persuaded, then
we must find ways to force them out of the system. My question to Mary
was not out of the blue.
Earlier in the session State Representative John Wright (R-Broken
Arrow) and currently a Lt. Governor candidate authored HB 2544, the
SoonerCare co-payment act. It would have required any person on Sooner
Care to pay $5 to get health care treatment. This very reasonable
legislation would do several things. First, it would increase personal
responsibility by causing some people to be a little less likely to
use clinics and hospital facilities unless necessary. As an example, a
person who would come to an emergency room for treatment of poison ivy
then decide to leave because they would have to wait on people with
serious problems (has actually happened). Second, the $5 would really
help pay for health care in a system that is looking for any way to
survive, especially with the passage of Obama Care. Getting money from
patients is the best way to do so rather than forcing insurance
companies to raise rates or force taxpayer to subsidize health care
facilities with ever more tax dollars.
During debate on the bill, Representative Scott Inman (D-Del City) did
some pandering and grandstanding when he said it would be horrible to
put such a burden of the poorest of the poor. Excuse me, I knew a
family on Sooner Care because they had 5 children. The dad was
gainfully employed and made more than I did at the time. The family
also had a boat, went to the lake on occasion and had a couple of
horses for the kids. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but don’t
tell me they can’t afford to pay $5 for mom or one of the kids to go
to see a doctor.
To be sure, there are people poorer than the person I mentioned,
mainly because they spend too much of their money on video games, cell
phones, movies, cigarettes, booze, drugs, in casinos or on lottery
tickets under the illusion that they will win the big game sponsored
by the Oklahoma State owned and operated Lottery.
Now, lets say there were a small number of people who are really poor,
because of no fault of their own. If they need to take a child to a
doctor, they should ask a family member, a friend or neighbor for the
$5. If that doesn’t work, then they should ask their church (assuming
they attend) for help with the $5 or perhaps one of the many civic or
charitable organizations. If that doesn’t work, then come to me and I
will put up the $5 assuming some circus barker like Representative
Scott Inman will do the same!
Inman’s debate turned enough Republicans into cowards to vote against
the bill or caused them to slithering out of the chamber to hide until
the vote was over, so that it failed. The vote was 32 Yeas, 56 Nays
and 13 missing in action. Not one single Socialist Democrat voted for
the measure. Following are the Republicans who voted against the
measure and were the reason it failed:
Don Armes (R-Lawton no surprise here), Gary Banz (R-Midwest City) Lisa
Billy (R-Purcell), David Dank (R-OKC his wife who served in the
legislature was a conservative, he is not), Lee Denney (R-Cushing, no
surprise here), Dale DeWitt (R-Braman, again no surprise here), Eddie
Fields (R-Wynona a freshman who is going to run for Senate district
10. OCPAC didn’t support him because he showed not to be a
conservative when he came before us in the 2006 election cycle), Shane
Jett (R-Tecumseh, what can I say, he has won our RINO award once and
been runner-up a couple of times), Charles Key (R-Bethany a rare vote
like this is what has kept Charles’ index score just below the
lifetime average of a 90 to prevent him from receiving an award from
us. On many issues Charles is a great lawmaker, it just shows no one
is perfect), Skye McNiel (R-Bristow, no surprise to me), Lewis Moore
(R-Arcadia), Jason Nelson (R-OKC), Charles Ortega (R-Altus), Pat
Ownbey (R-Ardmore), Earl Sears (R-Bartlesville, again no surprise
here), Chris Steele (R-Shawnee and the next Speaker of the House. This
kind of legislation is the number one weakness for Steele and just one
of many examples of why an accurate description of Steele would be a
“Christian socialist or Republican progressive.”) Randy Terrill (R-
Moore, this will shock some folks, but Randy is all over the place.
Good on some issues but he has become a very inconsistent
conservative. Perhaps his joining the state employees union has
clouded his judgment?), Todd Thomsen (R-Ada, so typical of rural
Republican lawmakers), Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore, don’t ask me why he
voted with the liberal Republicans and not with the conservatives),
and finally Harold Wright (R-Weatherford, a freshman turning out to be
another liberal from the rural areas).
The following are the ones who may have had a good reason to be absent
but most probably “took a hike” to avoid the vote:
Gus Blackwell (R-Goodwell), Mike Christian (R-South OKC), Fred Jordan
(R-Jenks), Ron Peters (R-Tulsa, usually in the mix for a RINO award,
fortunately he is close to being term limited), Dan Sullivan (R-Tulsa,
no surprise here), Mike Thompson (R-OKC, one of the 5th District
Congressional candidates) and then of course John Trebilcock (R-Broken
Arrow, a consistent moderate in the House).
Bottom line, many Republicans in the legislature as well as Mary
Fallin may or may not know where they are. However, I believe they
don’t have a clue as to where they need to go or how to get there to
make Oklahoma a better state. Spending must be cut and some people
must be forced to become personally responsible for their well being.
I will have more on Mary Fallin later as I learned a lot about her
this past week.
++ TIDBITS
* I recently received a fund raising letter from Dr. Rod MacIlvaine,
a PHD who recently joined the Veritas Worldview Institute at Oklahoma
Wesleyan University in Bartlesville. We have had the University’s
President speak at OCPAC twice and once at Clouds Over America. If I
had a child ready to attend higher education and send them anywhere I
wanted in the state, this would be the University as I believe it to
be the best among the 3 or 4 good universities in the state. I want to
share a part of the letter as I found it to be very educational:
“What impresses me most about OKWU is the way our professors weave the
four pillars of our school into each class. Whether students are
enrolled in music education or nursing science, or a math lab…the four
pillars always inform our academics.
* The primacy of Jesus Christ
* The priority of the Scriptures
* The pursuit of Wisdom
* And the practice of truth
As I sat in the campus coffee shop recently, it struck me that
Oklahoma Wesleyan epitomizes everything historically noble about
higher education.
For centuries the very term university meant that a diversity of
subjects was brought under the unity of knowledge found in Christ:
hence the term uni-versity.
Of course, most universities fail to live up to this historic vision.
They could be more aptly deemed multi-versities, schools with
curricula cobbled together from various divergent worldviews that
suppress the truth about God (Romans 1:18).
It’s no wonder that many (if not most) graduates of these postmodern
academic institutions leave their schools riddled with doubts and
deeply skeptical over matters of truth and faith.”
Folks those past few paragraphs are profound. No doubt our kids want
to attend the big name universities with all the glitzy sports and
activities, but it is no wonder they often come out spiritual cripples
or distracted from the most important things in life. I stay angered
that my tax dollars have to support the government schools rather than
allowing me to support the universities of my choice. With the few
shekels left over after paying my taxes, I did send a contribution as
I try to support those things in which I have confidence.
* As you may know, Arizona has stepped up its effort to deal with
what is literally a siege of illegal aliens into the state, creating
enormous crime, damage and costs to the citizens of Arizona.
Representatives Randy Terrill, Mike Christian and Senator Sykes along
with perhaps others are going to try and attach legislation to at
least match what Arizona has done or take it a few steps further.
The reaction across the nation by the liberals and the Bush type
progressive Republicans, aided by the main stream liberal media, has
been an all out attack upon the citizens of Arizona and their duly
elected officials. What is not being shown is the rock, and bottle
throwing as well as near riots occurring, all initiated by the
illegals and their supporters.
Folks this is very serious, it just shows what a serious problem we
have created by allowing the massive flow of illegal aliens and how
the leftists will use any kind of lie to intimidate the good people of
Arizona. Boycotts and any other means possible are being called on to
pressure Arizona officials to back off. If they do, Arizona will
probably be lost much like California (however that is to be
defined).
Arizona is a huge vacation destination. If Oklahoma decides not to do
anything to put more pressure on illegals here, my wife and I have
decided to cancel our staycation of traveling Route 66 in Oklahoma and
go instead to Arizona, to the Flagstaff, Grand Canyon and Sedonia area
for vacation. I want to reward their courage and I will contact their
department of tourism to let them know why we are coming to Arizona as
well as the department of tourism in Oklahoma to tell them why we
decided not to vacation in Oklahoma. We should all call our State
Representatives and Senators and urge them to pass additional
legislation to deal with the illegal alien problem here. Arizona needs
for other states to step up to the plate and keep them from being
isolated and the target of every liberal in the nation. If enough
states will get tough of these illegal criminals, it will diffuse the
ability of the liberals to punish a particular state.
* The editorial page in the current issue of the Oklahoma Gazette (I
pronounce it Gay-Zette) has a point and counter point article about
the “I Don’t Care” conference recently held at Trinity Baptist Church
in Yukon. The point comes from a congregant of Robin Myers, arguably
OKC’s leading false prophet. The counterpoint comes from Pastor Paul
Blair of Fairview Baptist Church, a leader in Oklahoma regarding the
culture war and the effort to expose the dangerous ideology and
strategy behind radical Islam. It is excellent and I urge folks to
pick up a copy of the Gazette at a local restaurant or other location
by Wednesday before the next issue is out. If you can’t find one, I
will post it to read at our meeting this Wednesday.
I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.
Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com
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